Diablo 3 - Free for WoW Pass Subscribers

The big news from Blizzcon is starting to pour out of the holes in the internet, and the biggest news is that Diablo III is going to be free to annual World Of Warcraft subscribers. Signing up for the annual pass gets you Diablo III for nowt and new in-game mount for WoW, Tyraelís Charger. And there we were thinking WoW subs were going to decline. Clever boys.

Bizarrely, this offer is NOT available to new players. They state in the FAQ that you must have had an active subscription in good standing on or before October 18th. So if you were thinking of finally getting around to playing WoW because itís cheap (by way of free Diablo 3), that ainít happeniní.

Not for new people who thought this might be a good way to play WOW and get Diablo 3 for free

Additionally, from WoW site: Q: When do I get Diablo III and the other exclusive benefits?A: You'll be able to download and play Diablo III as soon as it's available and once you complete the one-year term.

Lol. And if it so happens that D3 gets released before October '12 and the inevitable WoW-infused impatience sets in? This is a win/win piece of marketing hype all-around for Blizzard.

I was actually more interested in Blizzcon's suite of new trailers from the original article. No, not the 100% cinematic/no gameplay D3 trailer chock full of tired cliches. I am referring to the new Heart of the Swarm trailer w/ gameplay footage.

Blizzard must be more than slightly concerned about SW:TOR. This panda expansion can spell serious problems for their WoW subscription numbers. SW:TOR will most certainly grab a hugh portion of their adult playerbase. It will probably appeal to a lot of younger players too.

Originally Posted by Drithius
Additionally, from WoW site: Q: When do I get Diablo III and the other exclusive benefits?A: You'll be able to download and play Diablo III as soon as it's available and once you complete the one-year term.

Lol. And if it so happens that D3 gets released before October '12 and the inevitable WoW-infused impatience sets in? This is a win/win piece of marketing hype all-around for Blizzard.

Well my understanding is that you can download it as soon as it's available regardless of how long your term has been. It's just that you don't lose access to it when your year is up or anything like that.

As for SW:ToR, it could hurt their subscription numbers, but people have said that about a lot of other extremely hyped MMORPGs coming out, and so far it hasn't been true. I hope it is good enough to make a dent, but history has shown that it probably won't be.

Originally Posted by fadedc
Well my understanding is that you can download it as soon as it's available regardless of how long your term has been. It's just that you don't lose access to it when your year is up or anything like that.

I had typed out something about the FAQ being the FAQ unless it was clarified by a Blizzard rep, but lo and behold, the above part of the FAQ has been changed to:

Q: When do I get Diablo III and the other exclusive benefits?
A: You'll be able to download and play Diablo III as soon as it's available and once you complete the one-year term, it's yours to keep, even if you cancel your subscription. Tyrael's Charger will be available with Patch 4.3, and beta access will go live with the beta launch.

They must have been taking a lot of flak for the earlier statement. Regardless, not sure that I'd commit to a $150 contract (or whatever it is) simply for the sake of one 'free' game. But it's certainly a nice token for people who are addicted anyway.

Originally Posted by fadedc
This is the actual quote on their website, which makes it more clear

"You'll be able to download and play Diablo III as soon as it's available and once you complete the one-year term, it's yours to keep, even if you cancel your subscription"

So you get it right away no matter how long you've been on. But if you want to keep it permanently you have to maintain your subscription for a year.

Haha well that's only clear depending on how you read it. Part of the problem stems from their use of commas. The phrase after the comma contains a pronoun which makes the sentence a run-on as well as leads to some ambiguity about its meaning. It could be written properly any of the following ways:

These would mean what you have interpreted it to mean without much ambiguity but does require changing a word and necessitates the creation of two sentences separated by a period.

"You'll be able to download and play Diablo III as soon as it's available. Once you complete the one-year term it's yours to keep, even if you cancel your subscription"

These next two possibilities both carry the same meaning and do not require adding or removing any words:

"You'll be able to download and play Diablo III as soon as it's available and once you complete the one-year term. It's yours to keep, even if you cancel your subscription"

"You'll be able to download and play Diablo III as soon as it's available and once you complete the one-year term; it's yours to keep, even if you cancel your subscription"

Written either of the last two ways this would mean that you get the game when both conditions are met. That your copy of the game is whole and may be kept even if you then terminate your WoW subscription is additional information contained in a second independent clause which can be either an additional sentence or separated by a semi-colon. Both versions are less ambiguous and more grammatically correct.

The interpretation that you can download it after it as been released and also only after it has been a year since you purchased your one year pass makes the most sense for another reason. That was the meaning of the original statement. The ambiguity only arose when they added the additional independent clause. This suggests that it is extremely implausible that "and once you complete your one year term" is a condition for keeping the game instead of a condition for being able to obtain it in the first place. The phrase "it is yours to keep, even if you cancel…" was most likely added to clarify that as long as you met the conditions to download it you don't need to stay subscribed to keep it after that.

Originally Posted by fadedc
Well you can argue the grammar and semantics of this one statement all you want, but it's been made extremely clear by any number of other sources that you get Diablo 3 as soon as it is released.

Yeah - which makes the first statement plain wrong and the second one unhelpful. Linking to those various other sources would be far illuminating as both versions of the statement from the FAQ are not clear. Sure it makes more sense in a lot of ways to give all qualifying purchasers (based on the oct. 18 eligibility date for purchasing the one year pass) the right to download on release day but its not what either statement appeared to say. Perhaps the first one was accidentally truncated. Then they realized it didn't say what they meant and tried to fix. Why they just didn't use two clear sentences to express this is a mystery particularly when any ambiguity comes from them answering a somewhat different question.

They do make a clear statement on it elsewhere though - by not trying to jam multiple statements into one clumsy and ambiguous single sentence:

When will I receive Diablo III?

Diablo III will be available to download via your Battle.net account when the game is released.

They're giving you Diablo 3 IF you commit to a one-year subscription. It's incredibly manipulative - and people will jump on it because it says "free" somewhere. Then they'll feel forced to commit to WoW for the full term so they can get to keep the game.

Sure, if you're a dedicated WoW'er with every intention to play for the next year, it's a nice offer. But for everyone else, it's marketing manipulation at its worst.

Originally Posted by jhwisner
Not sure what various other sources made it clear. There it is from the one source that matters (Blizzard).

Well Blizzcon was going on over the last 2 days so there has been a fair amount of forum discussion by people who have a had a chance to clarify this with Blizzard. But in terms of official sources you've found the most important one.

They're giving you Diablo 3 IF you commit to a one-year subscription. It's incredibly manipulative - and people will jump on it because it says "free" somewhere. Then they'll feel forced to commit to WoW for the full term so they can get to keep the game.

Sure, if you're a dedicated WoW'er with every intention to play for the next year, it's a nice offer. But for everyone else, it's marketing manipulation at its worst.

I think your exagerating the negative a lot. I mean you can't even take advantage of the deal unless your an existing WoW customer so it's not like they are trying to suck in new people. It is an extra incentive to renew your membership which for the average WoW player who would buy diablo anyway, translates into it costing 90$ instead of 150$. That's really nice. Calling this market manipulation at it's worst is a bit much. It's no different from the signing bonus I've gotten from my cable company, cell phone service provider or bank.

It is proof however that no matter what Blizzard does, even if they give an expensive and highly anticipated game away to their loyal customers, people will complain about it and call them awful for doing it.

Originally Posted by fadedc
I think your exagerating the negative a lot. I mean you can't even take advantage of the deal unless your an existing WoW customer so it's not like they are trying to suck in new people. It is an extra incentive to renew your membership which for the average WoW player who would buy diablo anyway, translates into it costing 90$ instead of 150$. That's really nice. Calling this market manipulation at it's worst is a bit much. It's no different from the signing bonus I've gotten from my cable company, cell phone service provider or bank.

It is proof however that no matter what Blizzard does, even if they give an expensive and highly anticipated game away to their loyal customers, people will complain about it and call them awful for doing it.

If you think they're doing it to be nice, then let's just say we have different perceptions of how the world of business works.

Its not really about loyalty as much as psychology. Its about making people who are considering stopping their WoW subscriptions (temporarily especially) to keep them active. Only by keeping it active will they be able to get the D3 for 'free'.

Those who may have said "I'm only going to quit WoW for a few months" now will be (if they are interested in doing so) commit to it for longer for the promise of D3, even if it costs them more in the end.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
If you think they're doing it to be nice, then let's just say we have different perceptions of how the world of business works.

Nowhere in my post did I ever say that they are just doing it to be nice. Every action a company takes, even when they give money to charity, is at least indirectly aimed at making money. But that doesn't mean that their actions can't be "nice" at the same time.

Originally Posted by Caidh
Those who may have said "I'm only going to quit WoW for a few months" now will be (if they are interested in doing so) commit to it for longer for the promise of D3, even if it costs them more in the end.

Most likely although there are also going to be a huge number of people who already subscribe to WoW who are going to get the free game and end up paying Blizzard $60 less then they otherwise would have. In the short term I suspect that this deal will lose money for Blizzard. But in the long term I'm sure they expect it to pay off.